Nursing School Students: Employment Prospects For Nurses

Anyone considering the time and money that a formal education program requires probably has employment prospect as top of their list of questions that need answers. Those considering nurse as profession are no different.

While most career paths have greatly suffered in that capacity with the recent economic upheaval, nursing is one profession that so far has been sheltered from the storm. In fact demand for qualified nurses, both private practitioners and for health centers and hospitals, have seen an upward trend over the last twenty years that does not seem to lose steam in its growth.

One reason is socio-demographic – or should that be two reasons? First, a substantial number of nurses in activity today are baby-boomers or older, often gifted with a guaranteed pension based on salary. So all those workers are looking forward to retirement, which should be starting over the next five to ten years.

Simultaneously, it is well-known that the general population media age is getting higher. There is that big bubble of baby-boomers now entering their late 50’s and early 60’s, with all the demands on the health institutions aging makes. These two factors alone already puts a lot of pressure on health administrators to fill open positions in nursing. Add to this opportunities in other sectors related to nursing – such as the high growth in demand for Certified Nursing Assistant or CNA training, Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) – and competition to attract talented individuals becomes ferocious.

If recruiting campaigns for nurses were aggressive over the last few years, they now have become nothing less than absolutely wild. Employers are still ready to pay for moving expenses, offer large bonuses on signing long-term contracts, and more, even in the current business climate. The one thing we have yet to see is a free trip to the International Space Station, and there are those who believe this is only a matter of time.

Along this line, salaries as well have been seeing and upward surge, with everyone outmatching everyone else. Prospect for nursing are so good that many who chose to go in banking and investments probably sorely regret their choice. While the boom for nurses never came close to that of stock advisors and the like, the career also seems to be as bust-proof as can be, and with an uncertain future in our economy, this is probably as good as it gets.

The situation can be summed up simply: Nursing school students are enjoying record employment prospects as nursing jobs become harder and harder to fill due to growing demand.